You Can't Change a Criminal
by trying to find me
Summary: Camp Fern Lake was a place where criminal girls went to become functioning members of society. When camp was closed because of the accident, where will the girls of camp Fern Lake go? To camp Green Lake of course!
1. Intro

They were there to pay their debt to society, but what they got, was something else. Each there for a different reason, a different amount of time, and with a different view on life. But when they leave, will it all be worth it?

* * *

"Are we there yet?" asked Fixit from her seat at the front of the bus.

"Aw, shut it will ya? Some of us are trying to get in some sleep here!" Yelled Cocoa from the back of the bus where she had sprawled herself out over a few seats who's color was a mix in between barf green and mustard yellow.

"Fixit, I'm going to give you a little advice," said Bendy from her spot next to Fixit. "You better shut up, because everyone on this bus, especially Cocoa is getting really cranky. So unless you want someone to shove their foot up your ass I suggest you shut your trap for a while."

"Good idea," said Fixit thinking about Cocoa's horrible temper. She turned towards the dirty window of the bus and pulled a screwdriver out of her pocket. She used it to begin to tinker with the handheld radio in her pocket. It had been broken when Ice chucked against the wall of their tent after Tequila thought it would be a good idea to listen to country music for three straight hours. That was about 2 weeks ago, before 'the accident'. Their tent had been blamed for the accident by the other tents, but everyone knew that they couldn't have stopped it even if they wanted to. The accident was the reason why they were on this bus in the first place.

It had all started when Flame joined their tent. She was a bit of a weird one. Sure, there were a lot of people at camp Fern Creek who were weird, take Ice for example, but Flame was the weirdest of them all. Most of the girls in their tent avoided her. She was trouble waiting to be started and no one wanted any trouble. It happened one day when they were going out to dig and Flame said she needed to use the bathroom so she headed back to camp for a piss. None of the girls gave it a second thought, people went to the bathroom every day, besides she was only going to be gone for a couple of minutes. But soon a couple of minutes turned into a lot of minutes, and some of the girls got worried about her so they sent Ice and Bendy back to get her. Before Ice and Bendy got halfway back to the camp everyone in the camp knew what happened. There was black smoke rising from the spot where camp was. They found Flame a couple of hundred feet away from the scene admiring her work. They found out later that she had been planning this for months. She had collected highly flammable materials from the desert for months and set them up so they would set the whole camp on fire. The only thing left was the showers. They sent Flame off to a mental institution, and the girls from camp stayed in a crappy motel for a couple of weeks while they prepared a different place for us to stay. They were now going to bunk with some boys from a different criminal camp, camp Green Lake.

* * *

"I still can't believe it man! Girls, real girls!" said Twitch.

"What kind of girls were you expecting, plastic girls?" said Squid sarcastically from his bed.

"You gotta admit, this is gonna rock," commented X-ray from his spot on the floor. He examined the room with disgust and said, "We should clean this place up man. It's disgusting, and the girls are coming today."

"Since when are you a neat freak?" said Squid rolling onto hit stomach so he could get a better view of the room.

"Since it might be a determining factor on me getting laid," said X-ray with and air of cockiness in his voice.

"Who says your going to get laid?" said Twitch pulling at the sheets of his bead trying to pull them apart.

"Well," he started. " Seeing as I am the hottest guy at this camp and there going to be a couple of hundred very hot girls coming to this camp who probably haven't seen a guy in a few years. I'd say my chances are pretty good." He finished smiling.

"You're full of crap," said Squid throwing his pillow at X-ray's head. It bounced off lightly and the whole tent broke out into laughter. Things had been looking up at camp Green Lake ever since the announcement of the girls coming.

Just then the tent flap opened and in walked Magnet and Zigzag. "You guys should check out the new additions. This camp may actually become pleasant someday!" said Zigzag with a smile.

"I'm not sure about that Zig, but it is pretty nice," said Magnet. When it was announced that there would be girls joining camp Green Lake, it was noted that there would be some changes made for them. The camp had added six more tents; now with twelve in all there would be a male and female tent for each letter. Because there would be more people, the board decided to give the camp money to expand the rec room and get some more shovels. There was a little money left over, so instead of fixing the leaky showers or getting better food. The warden decided to have them build a basketball court, because it would look nicer for the man who checked over the heath and happiness of the campers.

* * *

"Hey I think were almost there!" cried Pip almost tumbling out of her seat in excitement. All the girls were exited for a permanent home.

"Yeah, I think that's the buildings down there," exclaimed Tequila pointing out of the dusty window.

"More holes big whoop," said Ice sarcastically. She was never one to be happy, but ever since camp burned down, she was even more sarcastic.

"Come on Ice, at least pretend to be happy," said Tiger messing with the compact mirror in her hand. Ice paused for a moment and gave a weak smile and then went back to pouting.

"Happy now?" she asked darkly.

"Yes," said Tiger in a satisfied tone.

"I think were here!" cried Fixit as she beamed at all the girls. Each of them (although they might not be showing it) was giddy with excitement.

* * *

"Come on you guys! Armpit and Zero are already out there!" cried Twitch in excitement as he twitched some more. He was practically pushing the boys out the door. They all went willingly, accept for Squid who was still on his bead staring at the ceiling.

"You coming?" asked Zigzag halfway out the door.

"Nah you guys go ahead. I've got some stuff on my mind," replied Squid moodily as he watch Zigzag slink out with the others. All the boys of camp Green Lake were outside of the Cafeteria waiting for the buses to arrive. Six bright yellow buses pulled up next to them, one for each tent.

"I hope we get some hot girls," said Magnet licking his lips.

"Can you see any of them?" asked X-ray standing on his tiptoes.

"Nah, the windows are too grimy," replied Zigzag who was a good couple of inches taller than X-ray.

"Well were gonna find out soon enough," said Armpit hopefully as the girls began to file out of their buses and get assigned to tents.

* * *

"I'm so nervous," said Fixit fiddling nervously with the screwdriver that was in her pocket.

"Don't worry we'll be fine," said Cocoa coolly. She was always calm in situations like this. The girls from other buses already had gotten assigned their rooms. Their girls of the D bus waited impatiently by the door of their bus, awaiting what were on the other side.

"Can you see anything?" asked Tequila trying to peer through her window.

"Nothing," replied Bendy rubbing the window with the sleeve of her shirt. "It's all this damn grime," she complained.

"What if we get a crappy tent? Or crappy boys? Or both?" asked Pip nervously as she hopped from foot to foot.

"Don't worry about it you guys. We'll be fine. We always are. If we get anything crappy we'll just ask them to trade, that's all," replied Cocoa calmly. It was her job as the leader to calm everyone down. Just then the doors of their bus opened and a tall skinny man with brown hair motioned for them to come out of the bus. So the slowly marched forward following his commands.

"When I call your name you will get off the bus," said Mr. Pendanski holding a dusty brown clipboard in his hands. "The girls of D tent are . . ."

"Here we go," said Magnet.

"Tamara Rice." The first person off the bus was a small girl only about 5'2. For what she lacked in height she made up for in muscle and curve, because this girl was defiantly no stick figure. She held herself up high and with dignity, as if she were a queen. She wore no smile, but no scowl either. Her dark skin gleamed in the afternoon sun. Her large chocolate brown eyes looked as if they were sizing up the competition. After she had finished surveying the camp she gave and approving nod and flipped her wavy dark brown hair out onto her shoulders. She then moved along with pride to let the others out of the bus.

"Are they all that short?" asked Zigzag.

"No!" replied the boys in unison as they watched for the next girl.

"Lily McFarland." A pair of long pale legs followed by a long torso followed came out of the bus next. She had a head full of thick blond hair with black undertones that was layered to fall around her face. She held herself up tall making her self seem about 5'6 or so. At one time her body may have been athletic, but it looked like the camp food had her body wasting away and she was now quite skinny. One of the most noticeable things about her were a pair of bright green eyes that barley moved, but seemed to be taking everything in.

"Eva Small." And small was right. Eva was the tiniest of the group probably only standing at 5'1; her body was quite petite with only a small amount of curve to her. Her hair was probably once brown, but the many days in the sun had bleached it out to a blonder hue. Unlike her hair, the sun had made her dark skin darker, so that it was now a deep chocolate brown. She flashed a small grin with her white teeth while almond shaped brown eyes looked nervously at her friends.

"Maria Sanchez. "The next girl practically tripped off the bus. She had an hourglass shape to her body, but it seemed as if she had lost a large amount of weight in a short amount of time, which added to her awkwardness. She steadied herself out by placing her hands on her hips; it was then that you could see that she reached about 5'4. From her tanned skin and big lips you could obviously tell she was of Spanish heritage. She reached up to her head to tame the mass of soft caramel curls that had fallen all over when she tripped. After successfully pushing them out of her face, you could see her deep-set hazel eyes that gleamed in the sun. Her face had a bit of a confused look on it, but it seemed as if she were generally happy.

"Emily Gray." The next girl off the bus was obviously giddy with excitement. Her round green eyes seemed to have a particular gleam in them, they looked as if they were scanning the camp with joy, but only Twitch could tell that she was looking for something. Her fair skin was dotted with freckles and there was large amount of them sprinkled across her nose. Her straight brown hair was held in a high a ponytail atop her head. She had an athletic build, but was only about 5'4. She followed the other girls to the spot where they were standing and began to chew on her already short nails.

"Alya Amad."

"Wow," was what a few of the boys whispered as this girl walked off the bus. She had the most beautiful eyes any of them had ever seen. They were small, but looked as if they were both tiger-eye gems, silted in the center. They were both lined in heavy black eye liner that winged out at the ends, making them seem even more intense than before. Her eyes matched her beautiful golden skin that came from her obviously Arabic heritage. Also from her heritage came a mess of black curls that feel beautifully around her round face. You could tell that she was only a little taller than Maria, but not much. She waved flirtatiously to the boys before being shoved to the side, by the next girl off the bus.

"Elizabeth Blake." Unlike the others, this girl showed no happiness in being at camp Green Lake. She slowly walked off the bus hunched over with her head to the ground, as if she was trying to slip by unnoticed. Unfortunately for her, she was very hard not to miss for a couple of reasons. The first was that she was about 5'7, and very skinny, making herself seem even taller. The second reason was because of her flaming red hair. It was the color of copper and was choppily layered around her face. It shined brightly in the sun. When she looked up to see where she was going, you could see that she had a pair of luminous blue eyes. With all of the girls of Tent D off the bus Mr. Pendanksi made a motion with his hand and said, "Please flow me and I'll show you to you tent," in his most polite voice. The boys followed then eagerly and with the help of a few short cuts they were back at camp before the girls.

"And this is where you'll be staying," said Mr. Pendanski showing the girls their tent. It was a lot like the boys, there were seven cots that lined the walls. Under each of them were two crates both bright orange. The girls poked at them for a bit and began to unload their stuff into them.

"One crate is for clothing and one is for personal belongs." He said pointing to the crates. The girls finished unloading their things and them seemed to have a mutual agreement about the beds. Cocoa, Tiger, Tequila, and Pip on one side, Bendy, Fixit and Ice on the other. "Why don't I introduce you to the boys you'll be digging with. They can answer anymore you your questions," said Mr. Pendanski eagerly as he ushered the girls out of the room. The girls quietly followed him willingly, some more than others. As soon as the flap of tent D opened the entire room went silent.

"Girls, this is Hector, Theodore, Rex, Ricky, Jose, Brian and . . ." started Mr. Pendanski

"Allan," Ice finished for him. Everyone in the tent turned to her and stared in awe. Squid flopped off his bead when he heard his name called and turned to Ice. Their eyes met in an instant. They stood there staring at each other for what seemed like hours. Each with their eyes fixed on the others. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Finally Squid uttered a barely audible word. "Elizabeth," he said not breaking eye contact with her. Satisfied Ice turned away and continued staring at the floor although she snuck an occasional glance at Squid. The girls were shocked. Ice never spoke unless she had to. She never complained or rejoiced or cried. She was as cold as stone.

"So you two know each other? That's great, starting off camp with friends!" said Mr. Pendanski clearly oblivious to what had just take place. "We'll I'll leave you guys and girls to get to know each other." And with that Mr. Pendanski left.

"Do you guys want to be alone?" asked X-ray, trying to figure out what was going on.

"NO!" they said in unison with slightly raised voices.

"Okay then," said X-ray, not wanting to get on anyone's bad side." We'll start out with introductions. Mom likes to use our real names, the ones. . ."

"Society will recognize us by," chimed in the others.

"But at camp we go by our nick names. I'm X-ray, that's Zigzag over there with the hair. This is Twitch and Magnet. That's Armpit and Zero over in that corner. And I guess some of you already know Squid," he said pointing them all out.

"We have nick names too, and they're not Babe, so get them right," said Cocoa with her hands on her hips. "I'm Cocoa. That's Tiger, Tequila, Pip, Fixit, Ice and Bendy." She said pointing them all out.

"Why do they call you Bendy?" asked Magnet with one eyebrow raised.

"Ugh, do you know how many people have asked me that?" said Bendy grumbling as she pulled off her orange jump suit, revealing a pair of short shorts and a tank top. "Watch," she said slowly as she slid down on the floor going into the splits. She paused for a moment, just to let it sink in that she could bend in ways most humans couldn't."That's why," she said pulling herself back up.

"Interesting," said Zigzag.

"Why do they call you Twitch?" asked Bendy shooting a question back at the boys. She didn't want to be out done.

"Why do you think? He twitches that's why, especially around cars," said Magnet crossing his arms over his chest, trying to seem bigger.

"Why do they call you Tequila?" asked Zigzag, but before she could answer a long bell sounded.

"What the hell is that?" asked Tiger holding her hands over her ears.

"That's lunch," said Armpit. "It's about time too. I'm starving." The 14 teenagers filed out to lunch each eyeing each other suspiciously. Could they trust each other? They followed the other campers through the lunch line, each getting their food. They retreated back to the D tent table where they picked up their conversations.

"So, why do they call you Tequila?" asked Magnet, leaning in so he could hear.

" For two reasons. Reason number one, it's because I have a little trouble standing upright. I'm always stumbling around like a drunk. Reason number two, I got busted stealing liquor. That's why I'm here." She stated it plainly, as if it were a fact.

" I'm guessing they call you Zigzag because of the hair right?" asked Tiger twisting one of his blond locks around her fingers. "Yep," said Zigzag happily.

"That was a hard one. Wasn't it Tiger? Did you take a long time to figure it out?" asked Fixit giggling.

"Shut it Fixit, just because we all aren't brainiacs like you, doesn't mean were stupid," grumbled Tiger sticking her tongue out at Fixit.

"I am not a braniac!" cried Fixit in defense. "I'm just smarter than you!" she said sticking her tongue out at Tiger.

"Zero, that's an interesting one," said Pip, all the way down at the other side of the table. "Why do they call you that?" she asked shyly, with a small smile forming on her lips.

"It's because I'm nothing. I know nothing, but how to dig holes. I have no records. I'm just a big fat zero," he stated pushing the unidentifiable food around on his plate.

"Oh come on, that's not true. I bet you are much more interesting than that. Zero is an interesting number, and you are named Zero, so there must be something interesting about you," said Pip sweetly, trying to get Zero to go along with her reasoning.

"You are just saying that because you don't know me. Trust me, if you knew me you'd be calling me Zero too," he said staring at the table.

"Well, we'll just see about that," said Pip with spunk.

"Oh yeah," said Zero lifting his head.

"Yeah," said Pip looking him in the eye.

"How are you going to do that?'

"I don't know anything about you," said Pip grinning. "So you're just going to have to tell me everything about you, so I can find something interesting. I'll start you off," she said widening her already large grin. "My name is Zero and I go to camp Green Lake. I like . . ." she trailed off. "Now you fill in the rest," she said simply.

"Do I have too?" asked Zero pleading with his eyes.

"Yes, now fill in the rest of the sentence," demanded Pip.

"Okay," said Zero as he drew a breath to tell Pip about himself.

* * *

"I'm guessing you're the leader of this group," said X-ray nodding his head in the direction of the girls from his seat at the far end of the table.

"I guess you could say that," said Cocoa, eyeing X-ray suspiciously.

"Why are looking at me like that?" asked X-ray trying to see through the pout Cocoa had had on ever since she took her first step off the bus and onto camp Green Lake soil.

"Like what?" asked Cocoa nonchalantly.

"Like I'm going to pull a knife on you," said X-ray bluntly, he wasn't very good a beating around the bush.

"I'm not looking at you like that," denied Cocoa.

"Yes you are. You keep looking at me as if I was going to hurt you. I promise I won't swear to god," he said pulling his hands out from under the table to show he wasn't hiding anything.

"I guess that's why they call you X-ray," said Cocoa softly, still not losing the suspicion in her eyes.

"You could say that." He smiled and although his glasses were so dirty you couldn't tell what was on the other side, Cocoa knew he was looking at her.

"Are you gonna tell me why your so suspicious?" he asked persuasively giving her another small smile.

"Oh, I'm not that stupid Romeo," she said roughly, but not meanly. "But how about this, instead I'll tell you why I'm at this god for saken camp," she said sticking out her hand for him to shake.

"Okay you got yourself a deal," he said, shaking her soft brown hand. "So why are you here?"

"Kick boxing," she said plainly.

"Come one babe, I mean Cocoa. I need a better answer than that," he complained.

"Shut up already I wasn't finished yet!" she yelled.

"Anyway, I used to be, and still am, the best friggen kick boxer in the east side of Houston. I used to pull in a lot of cash from bets and matches. I would compete in underground matches, that my manager and ex-boyfriend Max entered me in. Well a few nights after I had broken up with Max."

With those words X-ray fiddled with his fork excitedly. "I competed in the GT, or grand tournament. The pot was one hundred thousand dollars for first place, not to mention 15 percent of all bets. It was the night of the championship fight between me and a girl named Amelia. I was a sure fire to win, and with all that cash I could . . ." she trailed off for a moment as if distracted by something, but soon regained her focus. "I could, I could do a lot of things. We entered the building where it was going to be played and began to get ready for the fight. As we stepped into the ring a man with a megaphone began to speak. He said 'Do not move. We are the police. Please stay calm and follow my directions. You are all under arrest.' It was complete chaos. While the man had been announcing the things over the megaphone two policemen came up behind me, and before I knew it they had me cuffed. About a thousand people got arrested that night. Most of the fans got off easy, but the managers and fighters got it the worst. It was either 2 yeas in jail or Cam Fern Creek for me, so I came here."

"That's horrible," said X-ray trying to be sympathetic.

"And that's not even the worst of it," said Cocoa continuing. "A few weeks later I found out that Amelia had sold out the whole event. Three weeks before hand she went to the cops with the whole story. She knew she wouldn't win, so she sold us all out in order to maintain her honor. The cops agreed to not have her charged for all the information she had given them," she said finishing with a sigh.

"Man that blows," said X-ray picking at the dirt beneath his fingernails. "I'm sorry for you."

"Don't be," she said sharply. "I don't need anyone feeling sorry for me. I can take care of myself."

"Sorry I didn't mean to," said X-ray.

"Well next times don't say anything, okay! You got your little story. Come on girls let's go," she said motioning for them to follow her. The girls got up (some more willingly than others) and followed her out the door.

"Man, what are we gonna do with these girls?" sighed X-ray.


	2. The First Hole is always the hardest

She could feel her heart pumping loudly in her chest as she ran. She had no idea where she was going, she just had to get away. She didn't think, she didn't breathe, she just ran. Too many things were running through her mind at once. The betrayal, the heart break, and the lies all running through her head like a bad movie. She could feel her tears, blood from her cheek, and sweat mixing together into one gruesome concoction. She burst though the back door and that's when she saw it. The horrible scene. The bullet lodging it's self deep within his chest.

"CHARLIE!" she yelled as she watched him fall onto the cold, gray sidewalk. She ran towards him and sank to the ground, pulling his dying head up onto her lap. Blood from a gaping wound covered her dress. The hole wasn't that deep, but she could tell it was fatally place on the left side of his chest. She could feel the hot tears stinging her cheeks as his breathing got more and more shallow. He groaned in pain as he twisted on her lap. She shivered as the cold October air hit her cheeks.

"Don't move. It'll just make the pain worse." she said trying to force a smile.

"Liz? Is that you?" the dying figure asked in a rough voice.

"Yeah, it's me Charlie, you'll be okay. Don't worry. I'm going to take care of you," she said as she pushed his bloody hair from his face.

"You shouldn't be here Liz. Your in danger, there are probably Foxes all around, and you're their main target."

"Charlie I can't leave you here! Come on get up onto your feet, we have to get out of here," she said trying to pull him to his feet, but it was no use the figure didn't budge.

"Liz I'll just slow you down. Now go before they get you!" he said slowly. His breathing was becoming shallower now and his face was getting paler. She could tell he was dying.

"No, Charlie, don't go. I need you!" she cried out in a last resort, throwing her body over his in a bloody hug.

"Take the gun and key, make the Aces even better then they were before. I know you can do it. I have faith in you," his breathing was becoming extremely shallow at this point. His chest was barely moving. "Remember I'll always love you," he said with his final breath and died.

"I love you too," she said softly search his coat pocket for a few things.

BANG!

A bullet whizzed right past her, barley grazing her left arm.

"Dammit I missed her!" shout a voice.

"GET HER!" shouted another, as two large men raced towards her. She didn't even bother to look back at the men, she just picked up Charlie's gun and ran. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and her heart pounded in her ears. She could hear the sirens and gun shots going off behind her. She lost the men after three or four blocks, but she kept on running. She just needed to go. She ran for the whole night, for at least 2 or 3 miles. The early light of dawn began to peak through the sky as she slowed down. She ran as hard as she could, but she could feel her body giving out from under her and her consciousness slipping away. Dizziness swept over her and she began to see spots. She fell to the ground, and then everything went black.

Ice woke up with a start. It was the dream. The one that made her want to scream. You would have thought she'd be used to it by now. She'd seen it so many times. But she wasn't used to it. Every time she saw it, it made her want to cry. But she's be seeing it more and more now that she was at camp with Allen.

She squinted at the clock on the wall. It read 4:00. She decided to wake up the others so they would be out of bed by 4:30 and ready to dig at 5:00. She decided to wake up Bendy first, seeing as she was a morning person, and wouldn't try to beat the living crap out of someone who tried to wake her up.

"Bendy, get up. Today we have to dig," she said poking her in the side.

"Good luck with that," said Bendy as she rolled over on the cot with her back facing Ice.

"I'm not kidding! Get your ass out of bed!"

"Damn, take a joke, Dr. Freeze!" said Bendy, rolling out of bed and grumbling to herself.

"Wake them up," said Liz coldly as she quickly changed into a different jump suit. "I'm going to get some air. I hate this tent," and with that Ice was gone.

"Good morning to you too Sunshine," Bendy called groggily as she slipped into her work suit. After changing and sweeping her hair up into a high pony tail, she passed through the room, giving each girl a good hard poke in the back.

"Good morning D tent!" she said, especially loud so some of the heavier sleepers could hear her. "Today will be your first day of digging, so get your ass out of bed before the boys eat all of the good food." As soon as the word food was mentioned all five girls groggily lumbered out of bed and changed clothes.

"What is this?" asked Tiger twirling her spoon around in a mess of brown lumps.

"That, my dear, would be oatmeal," said Armpit chuckling at her disgust. Boy did these girls have a lot to learn.

"It's official, I can't eat this," said Bendy shoving the food in front of her with a look of revolt on her face.

"I can," said Zigzag grabbing her bowl and wolfing down the oatmeal as fast as he could.

"You see, the trick is to eat it as fast as you can. That way you get the energy, but not the taste," said Magnet.

"We can figure it out ourselves," snapped Tequila stabbing at her oatmeal with her spoon.

"I was only trying to help . . ." mumbled Magnet as her turned back to his bowl defeated.

"Don't worry, Tequila isn't really a morning person. She's always this grumpy," said Pip from the end of the table.

"Shut it Pipsqueak or I'll shove this spoon down your throat!" yelled Tequila angrily.

"Told ya so," said Pip as she scooted down the bench until she was partially sitting on Zero's lap, not that he was complaining.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it after a while. After about a month everything begins to taste the same," said Twitch. He had finished his food long before the others and was now nervously fingering is spoon.

"We never had to eat crap like this at Fern Creek," said Fixit, drumming her fingers on the table.

"We'll you ain't in Camp Fern Lake anymore chicka," said Magnet, with his strong Spanish accent.

"Her name ain't chicka," said Tequila glaring daggers into Magnet's head. She hated being patronized.

"What are you going to do about it?" he asked, returning her hostility.

"Well I might have to . . ." started Tequila, but she was interrupted.

"Just shut it you guys. I'm not in the mood for this. It's too damn early," said Squid yawning and stretching his arms. They finished eating and began to clear their dished when X-ray smiled.

"Ready to dig you're first holes ladies?"he asked teasingly.

"As ready as I'll ever be," moaned Tequila as the rest of the group followed her outside.

* * *

The early morning sun had just begun to rise as the campers began to start walking to the spot where they would be digging. Strands of orange and purple danced across the sky and off into the yellow sun. Zero and Pip were at the front of the group followed closely by Cocoa and X-ray, a couple of feet behind them was Armpit, Tiger, Bendy, Zigzag, Fixit, Twitch, Tequila, and Magnet. Tequila and Magnet were on opposite sides of the group and spent the majority of the walk sending dirty looks at each other. Behind them was Ice and Squid, walking slowly in silence, not daring to say a word to each other.

"The first hole is always the hardest," said Armpit as he dug his shovel into the ground for the first time that day.

"You can say that again," said Pip, practically jumping on her shovel to get it to even make a dent in the ground.

"I'm starting to miss Fern Lake more and more," said Tiger as she slowly rolled up the sleeves of her jumpsuit and began her hole.

"Look on the bright side you guys. At least it's cooler here," said Bendy trying to put a positive spin on things.

"Just wait," chuckled Zigzag. "Just wait." And Zigzag was right. After about 5 hours of digging the temperature had skyrocketed to 90 degrees. By this time the water truck had rolled around with their lunches.

The entire group had stopped digging to eat. The most important thing to do at Camp Green Lake after digging your hole was not to die while doing it. At first they sat in silence, each munching their food in a slow trance like state, but soon Magnet couldn't take it anymore and had to break the silence.

"How'd you guys get your nicknames? I know about Bendy and Tequila, but what about the rest of you?" The girls all glanced at each other for a moment each not knowing what to say. Bendy the turned to Tequila.

"Do you want to tell them Or should I?" she asked propping herself up with a shovel.

"You do it. I don't want to waste any of my energy of talking," said Tequila stretching her body out.

"Well. I guess you already know about Tequila and Bendy, so who should we do next?" she paused for a moment considering each of the girls. "I know Let's do Cocoa, she is the boss," said Fixit with a small smile playing on her lips.

"Cocoa is called Cocoa, because she is . . . well . . . Cocoa. One day Tiger said her skin looked like Hot Cocoa and it just kinda stuck. Simple as that." Fitix turned to Cocoa to make sure she had done her nickname justice. Cocoa nodded her head in approval and Fixit continued.

"Hmmmmmm. Whose next?"

Armpit just couldn't keep it in any longer. "What about Tiger?"

Fixit smiled. "Tiger? Well alright."

Armpit smiled as Tiger blushed and took another bite of her sandwich.

"The first Day Tiger was here she and this snob got into a fight over who got to shower first. The girl reached out to hit Tiger and before we knew it Tiger pounced on that girl and tore her to pieces, just like a tiger would. The name stuck and no one has gotten in a fight with her since," finished Fixit

She turned to the right of Tiger and continued "Pip's name is pretty obvious. She a pipsqueak. She's the smallest girl at the camp!"

"Hey!" exclaimed Pip.

"She does have a point though," said Squid.

"Shut up," said Pip punching him in the arm, though it didn't do much damage.

"Ice, well, Ice is pretty obvious too. She's as cold as ice. She doesn't really say much. She moslt keeps to herself. We don't even know why she's here." Ice didn't even acknowledge she was being talked about. She just continued to eat her cookie slowly, bite by bite.

"I think that is everyone," said Fixit counting off her fellow campers on her hand.

"Uhhhhhhhh Fixit," started X-ray.

"I think you forgot one," said Bendy.

"Who?" said Fixit, a perplexed look upon her face.

"YOU!" said Tequila loudly. "God Fixit. You are the dumbest smart person I know," she sighed.

"Oh yeah!" she said sheepishly. "Well they call me Fixit because that's what I do. I fix things. I've almost got Tiger's radio done, but I think it needs new batteries."

"Hey don't you have batteries Twitch?" asked Zero quietly .

"Yeah I do!" said Twitch, nervously shaking his hands.

"Maybe I could come over to your tent and take a look at them," said Fitix. "It's been a while since we've heard music in our tent."

"Mmmmmmmmm, music," sighed Tiger to herself as she got up to begin digging again. She picked up her shovel and began an imaginary waltz with it.

"I think that's enough stories for one day. We should get digging if we want to make it back to the camp before we burn to death," said Cocoa.

"Good point," said ZigZag.

"Come on men, let's get digging!" said Magent but with a deathly glance from Tequila he quickly changed his mind. "I mean men AND women."

With no surprise Pip finished digging first, she had always been the fastest digger at Fern Creek. She finished her hole, blew it a kiss goodbye and waited for Zero to finish his. Within a minute or two he was done, so he spat in his hole and walked back to camp with Pip.

They walked in silence for a few minutes , but finally Pip broke it.

"Why do you spit in your holes? It's so gross," she asked more intrigued than disgusted.

"I don't know, we just do. It's the way it is," said Zero. He had never really thought about it before, why did they do it? He wondered to himself as they walked along. "Why do you blow a kiss to your hole? That's just as weird as spitting in it."

"I think Cocoa started it. She's been here the longest. She told me that she'd never see that hole again so she wanted to kiss it goodbye. So we all started doing it," said Pip self-consciously. "But I guess it's kinda silly. I could stop if you want."

"No, don't stop . . . it's . . . it's cute," said Zero blushing as he looked away.

"Thanks," said Pip as she smiled. Soon the camp came into view and they headed in elated silence to the Rec room.

* * *

" I think I might die!" exclaimed Bendy, she had always been the dramatic one.

"Oh shut up, you say that every day," said Tiger as she flopped onto one of the chairs on the rec room.

"Well this time it's true!" huffed Bendy as she looked for a place to sit, but there was not an empty chair in sight. "Great! Now I don't even have a place to sit!" she complained. She searched the room and found a small opening on the couch where X-ray, Fixit, Squid, and ZigZag were already sitting. "Scoot down!" she commanded and slowly, but surely the entire group had moved down as far as they could. Bendy nestled herself into the tiny spot on the couch next to ZigZag.

"My legs are sore. My arms are sore. My back is sore. My hands are sore. My feet are Sore. I even think my toes are sore," said Fixit massaging her fingers.

"Suck it up you guys! We still have about a million more holes to go!" snapped Cocoa.

"I'm sleepy," proclaimed Bendy as she moved herself around on the couch until she was in a comfortable sleeping position which involved her head her head resting in ZigZags lap. He happily sighed as Ice entered the room. She raised her eyes at Bendy's position, but said nothing. She found a spot on the floor where she stretched out her legs an sighed. X-ray saw her and decided to see if he could get a word out of the ice princess.

"So Ice," he began. "How do you like camp Green Lake?"

"It's ok," she said staring at the floor. She could feel Allen's eyes staring at her. Almost unconsciously she began to rub her inner arm through her jump suit. X-ray frowned. This obviously wasn't going to go anywhere, so he tried something else.

"So how did you end up here at this fine correctional facility?"

"None of your fucking business," she answered coldly. She got up and glanced at Allen for a bit, and then walked out the door to the tent.

"Bad move," said Cocoa.

"What did I do?" asked X-ray, obviously confused.

"You asked Ice about her past," said Pip. "What ever you do, you don't ask Ice about her past. Especially in October. That's when she's especially sensitive about it."

"Idiot," mumbled Squid as he strode out the door.

"What was that about?" asked Tiger.

"I don't know. Squids been so uptight since he heard about the girls coming. What is with that man?' said Armpit.

"Well what ever it is we're gonna have to find out," said Cocoa.


	3. Boys and Girls

Squid found Ice sitting on the ground outside of her tent. Her eyes were closed and the harsh desert sun beat down hard upon her face. Every inch of her was illuminated. She looked much older than he had remembered. Her blue eyes had bags under them and her flaming red hair didn't shine the way it did during those hot Houston summers. He sat down next to her, leaning his back against the side of the tent and stretching his legs out in front of him. He sat there for a moment, just watching her bask in the sun. She may have faded a bit, but she was still as beautiful as ever.

"I thought I would never see you again," he said slowly rubbing his inner arm with his thumb. Her eyes snapped open and shot a glance at him. She opened her mouth, as if to speak, and then shut it quickly. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him. He had never seen so much hatred in one person. She sprang up and stalked off into her tent with out a sound. Squid took in a deep breath and sighed looking up into the fading sun. 'So this is how it's going to be.' He thought to himself as he got up to walk to his tent.

* * *

"I can't do this."

"Yes you can. Bendy, just get in the shower."

"No way! You get in the shower."

"But then everyone will see me!"

"And everyone won't see me?!" said Bendy exasperated. She and Tequila were trying to figure out how they (and all other females at the camp) were going to take a shower, while the rest of the group lounged in the rec room. The showers were fine for a boy's camp, especially when each boy wouldn't be caught dead taking a peek at another camper in the shower. But now that the girls were here, they had a problem. The stalls were set so that they stood at about 4'5. Just the long enough to cover your privates, and just short enough to come up to your chest.

"Just perfect! They can't even afford to buy showers that cover us properly!" cried Tequila in aggravation.

"Well, it could be worse," said Bendy trying to be optimistic.

"How could this possibly be any worse?" asked Tequila stooping down to sit on a nearby rock.

"It could be raining!"

"If it was raining we wouldn't need to take a shower!" screamed Tequila.

Magnet, Zigzag, and Armpit stood at their tent door, watching the girls in amusement.

"We should tell them," said Armpit looking a little more serious than the other two.

"Nah, just give them a few more minutes," chuckled Magnet. "Tequila looks like she's about to kill someone!"

"Exactly man! I don't want her ripping off my head! Go tell her," said Armpit, glancing at the screaming Tequila.

"Yeah man, I think you should tell them. Bendy looks like she might cry," whispered Zigzag thoughtfully.

"Why do you care what happens to Bendy anyway?" scowled Magnet. He was getting quite annoyed that the other two boys were ruining his fun. Besides, Tequila deserved this. She had been sending him dirty glances all day.

"I . . .uh . . . I don't care. I just don't want to have to deal with bitchy girls tomorrow. If you though Tequila was mean to you today, imagine how she is going to be tomorrow with no shower," replied Zigzag unsurely.

"Fine, I'll go tell them," sighed Magnet in defeat. "Why do you two always have to ruin my fun?" He turned from the two delinquent boys and paced towards the showers where Bendy and Tequila were sitting. "Hello ladies," he said flashing a devilishly handsome smile.

"Great," cried Tequila sarcastically. "Just what I need, an idiot who will make things worse." She looked up at the sky and threw her arms in the air, "God, What did I do to deserve this? I know I've done some bad things, but I've learned my lesson. I'll be good, just please take me away from him!" she cried pointing at Magnet.

"Jesus, I thought I was the dramatic one," said Bendy to herself. "What do you want Magnet?" she asked crossing her arms impatiently.

"Well, I was just wondering If you ladies wanted some help with the showers, but it's obvious that you don't want me, so I'll just leave . . ." and with mock dejection Magnet turned on his heels to leave.

"Wait!" called Bendy. "Do you know anyway we can shower with out exposing ourselves to the whole camp?" asked Bendy with desperation in her eyes.

"I might, but it depends if Tequila wants to apologize." Magnet smiled in delight as Tequila's eyes shot up in rage.

"Why on earth would _I_ apologize to _you_? You've done nothing but make sexist remarks all day! I've done nothing but defend myself and anyone else who has been tortured by you! If anyone should be apologizing, it should be you for being a sexist pig!" Exclaimed Tequila is outrage.

"Well I guess you won't need help from this sexist pig," said Magnet as he began to walk away. The scene was completely silent for a few moments until Bendy broke the silence. "Wait!" she shouted. Turning to Tequila she whispered, "Please Tequila, do it for me, do it for out tent, do it for the all the girls of camp green lake! Tequila scowled for a moment, but she could see the desperation in Bendy's eyes.

"FINE! I am sorry for being mean to you all day! Happy now?" she said glaring at Magnet.

"Well, _chika_, I feel like it could have been a bit more heartfelt, but I will accept it," said Magnet, flashing her victory smile. Magnet sauntered over to the showers and began to fiddle with the door. "The warden knew that you were coming, so the state gave her some money to build new showers for you, but she didn't want to do that, so instead she got extensions put on all of the doors, so instead of being this tall," he said motioning to the door. "They are now this tall," he said flipping a small piece of wood up, so that the door now stood tall enough to protect the girls from wandering eyes.

"Thank you!" Bendy squealed in excitement and jumped up throwing her arms around Magnets neck in an overzealous hug.

"Yeah thanks, I guess," mumbled Tequila, not wanting to give Magnet the satisfaction of being right.

"You know maybe I would have told you about this a little sooner if you had been nice to me today," said Magnet, rubbing his victory in Tequila's face.

"Wait a minute . . . you saw us standing here for a half an hour trying to find a way to shower, and you didn't say anything?!" exclaimed Tequila angrily.

"Well . . . umm . . . I was uhh . . .," muttered Magnet as he tried to make an excuse for himself.

"You Jackass! I can't believe you let us stand out here in the hot sun for a half an hour before you _bothered_ to tell us how to work the shower. You bastard!" And with that Tequila lunged at Magnet, luckily Bendy managed to hold her back so that Magnet could scamper back to the spot where Armpit and Zigzag were standing and laughing at their friend's misfortune.

* * *

The rest of the evening followed with less excitement than the beginning of the day. Most of the campers were too exhausted to anything but lounge in the rec room or sleep in their beds. The boys and girls of D-tent had retreated to the respective tents for a good nights rest. However, the girls of D-tent had a few things to discuss before their member could sleep.

"Ok. I know this has been a hard day for everyone, so I would like to know if anyone has any complaints that I can possibly fix," stated Cocoa in a business like fashion.

"I hate Magnet!" moaned Tequila. The rest of the group groaned in annoyance, Tequila had been complaining about Magnet all day.

"Well," started Cocoa. "The only way I can think to get rid of him is killing him, and that would mean that one of us would have to stay here extra long, so you are just going to have to suck it up and deal." Tequila pouted angrily, but she knew that Cocoa was right.

"Alright, are there any other complaints," inquired Cocoa. She needed make sure that her girls were well taken care of. However, the room remained fairly quiet.

"I actually kind of like it here," said Pip from the back of the room where she was braiding Tiger's hair.

"Pshhhh, yeah, that's only because Zero is here," exclaimed Fixit. Pip shot her a look that was a mix of embarrassment and anger. "What? I just call them like a see them."

"Yeah you and Zero seemed pretty friendly today," commented Bendy.

"That boy was practically drooling every time you walked by," added Tiger with a suggestive smile.

"Enough!" cried Cocoa trying to maintain some order. "Does anybody have any more business to discuss?"

"I think Pip has some business to discuss . . . in Zero's pants!" cried Tiger as she doubled over in laughter. Pip's face grew red with embarrassment. "Shut up you guys! It's not like that! We are just friends."

"Well I'm friends with Tequila, but it isn't like that," cackled Bendy.

Pip wasn't doing very well at defending herself, so she tried to change the subject. "Whatever, it's not like I'm the only one here who was friendly with the guys. What about you Bendy? I saw you all over Zigzag in the rec room!" she said with a triumphant smile.

"It's not my fault that I happened to sit next to him," said Bendy defensively.

"Yeah God Pip, It's not Bendy's fault she _happened_ to be flirting with Zigzag all night," giggled Fixit sarcastically. The rest of the group began to burst out in spurts of giggles and heart laughs. Even Ice cracked a small smile in the corner.

"Alright, that is enough gossip for tonight. Get to bed. We've got another day of digging to get to and now that there are boys here I think we all could use some beauty sleep," said Cocoa, appealing to beauty queen in all of them.

"Some of us need the beauty sleep more than others," snickered Tequila.

"Shut up Fixit!" shouted Cocoa as she tried to manage the hubbub.

"Yeah some of us don't have don't have boyfriends like Magnet, right Tequila?" giggled Bendy teasingly.

"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND! He is an incredibly annoying asshole who can't keep his sexist comments to himself for five seconds . . ." ranted Tequila.

"SHUT UP! Go to sleep!" cried Cocoa in an exasperated tone.

"I wonder what the boys are up to . . ." pondered Pip softly.

"I don't give a crap what they are up to! Go to bed or I will be filling one of those holes out there with one of your bodies!" barked Cocoa angrily, and with that the tent was dead silent.

* * *

"And so then I was like 'oh no you didn't chicka!" ranted Magnet angrily.

"No offence Magnet, but this is the third time I've heard this story and I get the point, Tequila's a bitch. Can we go to bed now?" said Squid from his cot. The boys, like the girls, had turned in for the night and were now discussing the events of the second day of co-ed camp Green Lake.

"Just because you guys are having a crappy time with the girls, doesn't mean the rest of us are," replied X-Ray from his cot. "I love having these girls here, especially Cocoa. That girl wants me so bad!"

"Yeah, and Armpit smells like roses," retorted Zigzag. "Cocoa would rip your head off if you tried to get with her." X-Ray frowned and sat back on his bed. "I, on the other hand, have an excellent chance of having Bendy fall in love with me. I have been sending her telepathic messages all day," finished Zigzag triumphantly.

"Keeping telling yourself that lover boy!" snorted Magnet. "That girl is so clueless; she could catch on fire before she realized that you were in love with her."

"Hey! Watch how you talk about my woman!"

"They day that she is your woman, is the day I will do Armpits laundry . . . NEVER!" growled Magnet. Who did Zigzag think he was? Already claiming one of the girls. Of course Magnet probably wouldn't have been in such and irritable mood if he hadn't been fighting with Tequila all day.

"You wait and see. She will be mine!"

"Whatever you say!"

"Can you guys shut up? I'm trying to go to bed," snapped Squid, pulling his covers up over his head.

"Yeah I've had enough arguing for one day. You and Tequila really need to work it out man, I don't think I can deal with anymore of this fighting," said Armpit as he settled into his cot.

"I would be fighting with her if she wasn't such a bitch . . .," muttered Magnet.

"SHUT UP!" shouted twitch. The boys looked at him in surprise; he hadn't said anything all night. "What? I need my sleep Fixit and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow if we want to fix Tequila's radio."

"I wonder what the girls are up to . . .," said Zero softly.

"They are probably already asleep," answered Squid in a frustrated tone.

"Dreaming of me," sighed Zigzag happily.

"Shut up and go to bed or I will find a yellow spotted lizard and put him in your bed!" cried Squid. The tent immediately went silent and soon the faint snoring of Armpit was the only sound in either of the D-Tents.


	4. I guess they don't want to talk about it

Authors note: Hey guys. Sorry I'm so lame and never update, but I FINALLY got some time and inspiration. Also, I've been busy fighting off people who have been PLAGIARIZING my story, so that has been taking up a lot of time (and making me really pissed off). Anyway, enjoy and review!

-Tryingtofindme

* * *

"CHARLIE!" screamed Ice as she bolted upright in her cot. A cold sweat dripped down her forehead as she looked frantically around the room. Her breath was ragged and unsteady as she searched for something that wasn't there. She sighed in relief when she realized that she was still at Camp Green Lake. Safe old Camp Green Lake, well not completely safe with Allen here, but she had her girls to protect her from him. Pushing her copper hair off of her sweaty forehead, she took a deep breath and tried to settle back into her cot to sleep. However, her efforts were to no avail. Every time she closed her eyes she saw it. The bullet. The blood. The gun. The Houston skyline at two in the morning. It made her want to hurl. She needed fresh air. Slipping on a spare pair of socks, she quietly slinked out of the tent and began to wander aimlessly about the camp.

It was quite dark now, probably around two or three in the morning. The stars shimmered in the sky above, providing all the light she needed. At first she wandered towards the warden's cabin, amused by the hammock that stood there. She wondered if she could lie in it and enjoy a comfortable bed for one. But she decided against it. Ice had a feeling that the warden would have some mysterious way of knowing that someone had touched her hammock, and she wasn't in the mood for any trouble. She wandered next to the rec room, hoping a game of pool would take her mind off things. However this was not meant to be either, for the door to rec room was securely locked, and Ice had neither the time nor the energy to pick the lock. She finally decided to sit behind the cafeteria and gaze upon the starts. The rocks seemed just a little softer here, and the stars seemed to shine more brightly.

She sat with her bask against the building, pulling her skinny legs up to her chest. It was an unusually warm night for this time of year. Ice figured that it was about mid-April, and usually the nights were still too chilly to head outside. This night, however, was different. It was a perfect 70 degrees, with a slight wind blowing across the barren lake. Occasionally a yellow spotted Lizard would scamper by, but they would never get close enough for her to worry. As time went on she began to worry less. The images began to gracefully fade from her mind, her breathing slowed, and the marks on her arm didn't seem to burn so bad. Sometimes Ice actually liked being at Camp Green Lake. They had only been at camp for a week or so, but there was something strangely appealing about it. It was peaceful. It reminded her of a time when life wasn't so complicated and people could be trusted.

Lost in her own thoughts, Ice barely heard the foot steps approaching. And once she recognized there was something approaching, she merely dismissed it as a particularly large spotted lizard. She was not prepared when a human turned the corner of the building and saw her sitting alone.

"What are you doing here!" cried Squid in a muffled whisper, obviously quite surprised to see Ice in his favorite thinking spot.

Upon seeing Squid's arrival, Ice jumped to her feet in total shock. "I could ask you the same thin, _Allen_." she sneered, putting a particular emphasis on his true name.

"Well, _Elizabeth_, if you must know, I came out her to think," retorted Squid lamely. The two peered at each other for a moment before letting their guard slip a little. They would have to work this out quietly so that no adults would hear them.

"What do have to think so much about?" questioned Ice apprehensively. She moved closer to Squid so that she could better view his face in the light, although she already knew him so well she could probably predict his every facial movement.

"I had . . . ," Squid paused, debating weather to put the words in his mouth. "I had a nightmare. I thought they were gone, but every since you stupid girls showed up, I haven't been able to get them out of my head."

"Well that makes two of us," mumbled Ice as she sat back down again. She picked up a few rocks off the group and began absentmindedly fiddling with them. Squid smiled, she used to do that all of the time when they were at home. She would always find something to entertain her hands with. He sat down next to her, sitting cross legged. They sat in silence for a few seconds, before Squid let out a low whisper.

"So you see it too?" he asked softly.

"Yep. Almost every night," returned Ice with almost none of the hostility she normally spoke with.

"That night hurt a lot of people," he said tentatively, trying to gouge her reaction.

"Some people more than others," said Ice in a fierce biting tone. "That night is forever burned into my brain. No matter how hard I try to get it out. It will always be there, just like this stupid tattoo," she said pulling up the sleeve of her left arm, to reveal a mass of black lines tracing their way around her left wrist. Upon closer inspection one could see that the lines formed a playing card, the ace of hearts to be exact. A few other lines traced their way around the card forming words and numbers. Words and numbers that represented a certain type of person. A gang member.

Squid gazed at the ink for a moment as emotions began to swirl in his head. He hated that mark. He hated it more than anything on this earth. It was the one thing that separated them, kept them worlds apart. "A constant reminder . . ." he trailed off, slowly tracing invisible lines on his left jumper sleeve.

"You would know something about that, wouldn't you?" she said with her normal hostility returning. Allen opened his mouth to respond, but his voice was replaced with a different one. One that was much deeper, scratchier, and older.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Both Ice and Squid nearly jumped out of their skin when they heard the voice behind them. The turned on the spot and found themselves facing another member of Camp Green Lake.

"Who are you?" asked Ice defensively.

"Somebody you don't want catching you breaking the rules."

* * *

"Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" moaned Tiger as the D-tent gang, as well as the other members of Camp Green Lake, filed into the mess hall for an early morning announcement. Normally at this time the campers would eat their breakfast in silence, each once dealing with the fact that another day had come, and they had to dig another hole.

"Well Tiger," started Fixit mater-of-factually. "They warden must have something very important to talk to us about. We usually never have morning meetings."

"Fixit, have you ever heard of a rhetorical question?" asked Tiger. She continued to grumble silently to herself as the group made their way to their assigned table. They sat at their table with Magnet and Tequila on the end, glaring at each other for across the table, Cocoa and X-ray sitting close by, making sure that they didn't spring across the table and start a brawl, Zigzag and Bendy sitting next to each other, both half asleep, and finally Tiger, Fixit, Pip, Armpit, Zero, and Twitch all sitting in a large clump at the other end, with Zero and Pip slightly away from the group whispering quietly to each other.

"Hey has anybody seen Squid or Ice?" asked Pip, being the most alert out of the group and now noticing that they were missing.

"Yeah. They're gone. I knew it felt like somebody was missing!" exclaimed Tequila.

"Well aren't you smart for noticing that they are gone," joked Magnet, trying to push her buttons.

"Hey! Well at least I noticed, unlike some people who wouldn't even know that their nose was missing if someone chopped it off their face!" screeched Tequila as she tried to lunge across the table to hit Magnet. Fortunately for Magnet, Cocoa managed to hold Tequila back and get her to calm down.

"Calm down _chicka_, it's too early in the morning for fighting," chuckled Magnet, knowing that he had won this round. Tequila sighed angrily and began to mutter a stream of curses under her breath.

Bendy, awakened by the tussle at the other end of the table, chimed in about the current situation, "But seriously you guys, they could be in trouble or something. I've heard all kinds of crazy shit about the stuff that lives in that desert. They could be really hurt."

"And don't Squid and Ice . . . hate each other?" said Zero from the end of the table.

Cocoa turned to X-ray with a very severe look and said, "If I hear that your Squid has done anything to Ice, there will be hell to pay!" X-Ray was not scared of many things besides yellow spotted lizards and Mr. Sir's gun, but at that moment, he did not want to come across Cocoa in a dark alley. He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Twitch.

"Hey!" He said nearly jumping up from the table. "Look! It's Mr. Sir!" And sure enough Mr. Sir had made his way to the front of the mess hall. Standing behind him stood Squid and Ice who occasionally stopped looking at the floor long enough to throw each other an awful dirty look.

"Well it looks like Mr. Sir found them, although I'm not sure if that's any better than being bitten by a yellow spotted Lizard," said Zigzag quietly in his slow southern drawl. By now the mess hall was silent with all eyes darting from Mr. Sir to the two delinquents behind him. Mr. Sir gave his usual scowl as Mr. Pendanski shuffled to the center of the mess hall and cleared his thought loudly. He took a small sip out of his large coffee mug before opening his mouth to speak, "Now I'm quite disappointed that I must have this talk so soon with you campers, but the warden warned me that we would have to discuss this with you with the camps integrating, and after the abysmal judgments that have been made by these two campers," and with that he pointed at the two teenagers standing next to him who had just been given a hard shake by Mr. Sir causing them to grunt in pain and allowed the audience to view them better. "I fear that I have no other choice than to give you a stern lecture about _sexual deviance!_" About half the crowd groaned. Every once and a while Mr. Pendanski felt inspired to give a 'stern lecture' about a social problem that occurred at camp. From bullying to spitting, these boys had heard them all. Mr. Pendanski would spend 30 to 60 minutes ranting about injustices, and no one could stop them. Not only would this mean that they would start digging their holes late today, but Mr. Pendanski would be in a particularly preachy mood for the rest of the week.

This lecture was no different from the others, although it was filled with a few entertaining moments in which Mr. Pendanski struggled to explain the 'consequences of inappropriate sexual behavior' with out being too graphic. Being quite inspired, Mr. Pendanski took a whopping hour and 15 minutes to complete his lecture, a new record. When he had finished Mr. Sir took the stage for a moment. "Now I'm not sure if any of you idiots got much of what he said, but I'm going to make it nice and simple for you. The first time I catch you doing something stupid, like I did with these two, I'm going to take away your rec room privileges and give you kitchen duty for a week. The second time I catch you, it'll be for two weeks. And the third time I catch you," he paused for dramatic affect and to give a particularly gruesome scowl. "Well, let's just say if I catch you, you'll end up in a place that's a hell of a lot worse than Camp Green Lake. Now get to work!"

* * *

"I can't believe he went for an hour and 15 minutes!" exclaimed X-Ray.

"Yeah that's got to be a new record," agreed Armpit.

"The best part was when he got stuck in the middle when he was talking about the girls," giggled Twitch practically doubling over in laughter and tripping over his shovel. After braving the 'stern lecture' of Mr. Pendanski, the members of D-Tent had headed out to dig their hole for the day. The sun was already fairly high in the sky so they walked quickly, not wanting to get stuck in the late afternoon sun.

"I can't believe you guys actually enjoyed that," countered Tiger.

"Yeah," agreed Cocoa. "Not only was it boring, it was also a little disgusting." She shuttered remembering some of the technical jargon that Mr. Pendanski had used.

"Eh. It wasn't so bad. It was better than watching T.V." shrugged Zigzag.

"You girls have to remember that before you girls got here, the only form of entertainment we had was Mr. Pendanski's 'stern lectures'" said Magnet using air quotes on 'stern lectures'.

"Wait. So that's all we are to you? A form of entertainment?" questioned Tequila indignantly.

"Well . . . ummm . . . What I mean was . . . uhhhhhhhhh." Magnet stumbled over his words trying to come up with a response that would either piss of Tequila more or diffuse the argument. Magnet opened his mouth to say something that would probably further piss off Tequila when he was cut off by Bendy.

"Guys wait up!" shouted Bendy. Her long blonde hair was sticking to her face with sweat. She simple could not keep up with the others and was running behind the group.

"Hurry up Bendy!" yelled Tiger, who was at the head of the group.

"Sorry. You guys are walking so fast. And I swear these shovels are heavier than the ones we had at Camp Fern Creek!" said Bendy as she tripped over her shovel and fell on the ground. "OUCH!" she said as she tumbled into the dust. The group stopped to see what was causing all of the commotion. When the dust had settled they could see Bendy lying in a heap on the ground clutching her left hand with her shovel lying next to her. Zigzag, Pip, and Zero, who were at the back of the group told the rest of the group to go forward and head back to care for Bendy. Upon approaching the girl, they noticed that her left hand had a large gash in it and she was covered in dirt.

"That looks like it hurts," said Pip, helping her friend up and out of the dirt. Bendy stumbled around for a bit, but then found her balance.

"Yeah, it stings like a bitch," said Bendy pressing her palms together to try to stop the bleeding. She could feel tears forming at the edges of her eyes, but she didn't let them out.

"I would say go to Mr. Sir for help, but I doubt he'll do anything, and I don't think Mr. Pendanski is on water duty today," said Zero sympathetically, trying to help.

"Don't worry. I got it," said Zigzag as he appeared from behind them, holding a small piece of orange fabric. Bendy was surprised by how gently he took her wounded hand in his and began to slowly wrap it in the fabric. Bendy blushed as she looked down to see that one of the cuffs of his jumper was slightly shorter than the other and had been ripped. "All better," he said as he gently patted her hand and smiled. She smiled back and whispered, "Thank you."

Pip saw the moment unfolding and seized the opportunity to do a favor for her friend. "Hey Bendy," she started. "We'll probably get there faster if Zigzag gives you a piggy back ride. Zero and I can hold your shovels, and that way you can save your strength for digging. Bendy blushed and turned to Zigzag, "Well it's alright with me if it's alright with Zig." He smiled and nodded, "Of course it's all right with me. Hop on!" and with that he lowered himself so that Bendy could climb onto his back. With Bendy being so light, Zigzag barely had to do any work to hold her. She swung her legs around his waits, wrapped her arms loosely around hid neck and let her head rest on his broad shoulders. As they began to walk off toward their digging site, Bendy silently mouthed 'thank you' to Pip, who returned it with a wink, before continuing her conversation with Zero.

* * *

The midmorning sun shone brightly in the sky as it began its ascent toward midday. The members of D-Tent were now about one fourth done with their holes for the day. At this point, Bendy, Zigzag, Zero, and Pip had all joined the rest of the group. Zigzag had even offered to assist Bendy in digging her holes, but she politely refused. She didn't want him to think that she was a total sissy. Occasionally a camper would look up with anticipation and hope that that the noise they heard was the water truck rolling up to relive them of their thirst. However, they were out of luck and the noise was only a rattle snake or a scorpion slithering out of the hot desert sun.

Pausing for moment to better asses his digging strategy, Armpit took a step back from his hole to admire his work. After examining his hole, Armpit glanced back towards camp to see two figures silently marching towards their digging site. "Yo guys! Someone's coming," he yelled back towards the rest of the group. Almost immediately 14 heads turned towards the two figures approaching them. Fixit, having some of the best eyes in the group recognized the figures at once. "It's Squid and Ice!" she yelled. And sure enough the rest of the group realized that it was none other than Squid and Ice, both marching silently towards the group, each with a shovel in hand.

"Good!" harrumphed Tequila. "They shouldn't get the day off digging just because they got caught fooling around!"

The pair encroached quickly, and soon enough they were within ear shot of the group. Magnet chuckled to himself and called out, "Well look who decided to show up! Did you have fun being 'sexual deviants?" he asked with a truly obnoxious tone. The rest of the group giggled. They were eager to hear what had happened with the two. Squid shot him a deathly glare, but said nothing.

"Awwwwww come on! What did you two do get in so much trouble?" questioned X-Ray.

"None of your fucking business!" shouted Squid as he began to walk to the outskirts of their digging site.

"Ohhhhh! So something did happen!" giggled Tiger, trying to push one of the two into telling. With those words Ice spun around and glared at the group. She spoke slowly and quietly, so that the group would be forced to listen to her. "Look. Nothing happened. We were just both in the wrong place at the wrong time. And anyone who say's differently will be beaten savagely with this shovel until everyone in Camp Green Lake can see their brains smeared all over the place!" and with that she pointed her shovel at the rest of the group giving off an angry growl before heading in the opposite direction of Squid to dig her hole. The rest of the group quieted down and began to dig again, but quietly Pip whispered to Zero, "I guess they don't want to talk about it."


End file.
